The present invention relates to a wheel cover for a vehicle including radially outer and inner peripheral portions and a plurality of spoke portions located between and connected to the outer and inner peripheral portions.
A conventional wheel cover of the type mentioned above includes separate outer and inner peripheral portions and spokes which are made of metal wire, e.g. stainless steel wire, and the spokes are assembled one by one to connect the outer and inner peripheral portions with each other. Such a wheel cover necessitates a number of parts and hence a substantial number of steps and cost for the manufacture. Further, the spokes tend to loosen due to vibration and shocks during driving of the vehicle, which causes undesirable rattling of the wheel cover.
The above mentioned disadvantages can be eliminated by a wheel cover in which the outer and inner peripheral portions and the spoke portions are integrally formed into a one-piece structure. Such a wheel cover can be manufactured by injection moulding of suitable plastic material, or casting or die-casting of suitable light metal alloy, so that the assembling cost can be greatly reduced and the loosening of the spokes and the rattling of the wheel cover can be completely eliminated.
In such a wheel cover, the spoke portions may not extend precisely radially outwards from the outer peripheral portion. Namely, adjacent spoke portions may cross each other at cross points generally at the connection of the spoke portions with the outer and inner peripheral portions, respectively. However, when the cross point of the longitudinal center lines in the front view are aligned at the opposing surfaces of the outer and inner peripheral portions, especially at the inner periphery of the outer peripheral portion where the spoke portions cross each other at a narrower angle, flat portions are formed between the spoke portions which are crossed with each other. Thus, the impression of actually assembled separate spokes is not obtained so that the appearance of the wheel cover is greatly marred.